Question: Personally I think you should mind
your own business about everyone's personal beliefs on religion. I think
it is disgusting how you can even waste your time thinking of new ways to
criticize a person's religion.

Answer: I am assuming that you cherish the principle of religious
tolerance that every person should be allowed to
practice his religion according to his own conscience without being
coerced or forced to change his convictions. I believe that too.

However, it seems to me that you take the religious tolerance principle
too far. You probably feel that every person should "mind his own
business" because it does not really matter what a person believes as long
as he is sincere. You would probably accept a Moslem, a Hindu, a
Protestant and a Roman Catholic and consider their respective religions as
if they are equally valid even though they're in total disagreement.

Even so, you are inconsistent in the application of the "religious
tolerance" principle. Do you realize
that you're being intolerant of my religion? Along with millions of other Christians,
I believe that there
is such a thing as truth and falsehood; there is a right way to life and
another that leads to destruction. Being convinced of this, I would be
cruel and callous if I don't warn the people who are walking along the
path to perdition. It is a matter of religious duty for me. Jesus warned about false doctrines and false teachers.
So did the apostles. So did Christians throughout the centuries. And so,
by the grace of God, I shall continue to do.

I have learned from experience that the most vociferous champions of
religious tolerance are most intolerant of the absolute truths of the
Christian faith. They will gladly allow Christians to worship Jesus as
Lord, just as other people worship their gods. They find no objection if
we say that Jesus is another way to heaven. But when Christians insist
that Jesus is the only Lord and that all other gods are idols, and when
Christians assert that Jesus is the only way to heaven and that all other
religions are false, then all talk on tolerance and moderation
suddenly changes into the most vitriolic attack on Christianity. We are
accused of being insolent, arrogant, dangerous and, of course, intolerant!

At least we're all in agreement on this principle - namely, that there
are certain ideas that should not be tolerated!

Truth is not a matter of personal opinion. God exists, even if all
people were atheists. God created us, even if all were evolutionists.
Jesus is the Son of God, no matter what Islam teaches. Jesus died for our
sins, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, even if
nobody believed the Gospel. Truth is not altered by our belief or unbelief
- the only thing that changes is our destiny. For the Scriptures say,
"He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe
is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).

Therefore the popular idea of religious tolerance is not a virtue for
us Christians; rather it is shameful passivity and heartless indifference.
How can we who know the truth of salvation sit idly "tolerating" our
friends and relatives groping in spiritual darkness? We have the water of
life, how can we keep it from them who are dying of thirst?

To be sure, the methods to reach out to people should have nothing to
do with offensive language, violence or coercion. Jesus did not equip His disciples with
swords or torture instruments of the Inquisition. Christ armed us with
love and the Good News of salvation by grace through faith in His Son. We
are not called merely to tolerate people of other religions,
but He taught us to actively love and pray for them, and to do good to
all, even to those who abuse us. With patience and respect, we seek to
expose and correct false doctrines, and to proclaim and teach the Truth,
in the hope that God will open their heart to the Gospel. And that's
because we really love and care for all.

Copyright Dr Joe Mizzi.
Permission to copy and distribute this article without textual changes. <
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